Solving The Most Common Windows 7 Problems

4. Windows 7 Aero Feature Problems

If your Windows are not looking so hot, it may be possible that the Aero feature was not properly enabled. in this case, it is best to utilize Windows built-in Aero Troubleshooting Wizard.

1. Click your Start menu button
2. Type Aero
3. From the resulting list, select Find and fix problems with transparency and other visual effects
4. Click the Button and follow the instructions

If that did not fix the issue, it may be possible that the Aero function has been disabled in your registry. Before following the below instructions to modify your registry, please refer to the warning issued above in reference to modifying the Windows registry.

1. Click your Start menu button
2. Type regedit and press Enter/Return
3. Navigate to KEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
4. Right-click EnableAeroPeek and change the data to ’1′, If it is not already set

5. minidumps Wasting Disk Space

By default, Windows 7 saves the last 50 minidump files. These files help technical support troubleshoot crashes. However, if you are not one to install a bunch of programs, test out the latest beta, and have proper security installed on your PC (at a minimum, the free Microsoft Security Essentials), you may not need 50. Follow these steps to reduce the number of files saved:

1. Open regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
3. Right-click MiniDumpsCount
4. Select decimal and input your desired number of files to save
5. Close back out and restart your computer

6. Crash Dump Files Missing

These files are similar to minidump files, but are intended to further help troubleshoot problems. Often, ironically, the setting to save these files is not enabled. Follow the steps here to once again, enable the feature.

First, discover if the setting has been enabled:

1. Right-click Computer and Select Properties
2. Click on Advanced System Settings in the left-hand pane
3. Open Startup and Recovery
4. View Write debugging information and make sure it is set to none, and the Dump File is the default, %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

Now, it’s time to modify your registry…

1. Open regedit > click on your Start menu button and type regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
3. If not already present, right-click in the right-hand pane and create a new DWORD titled AlwaysKeepMemoryDump
4. Set the data decimal to 1, close out and restart your computer

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